Chapter 47
I look up as the door to the small room opens. After I gave my statement and called Ethan, Garcia let me sit in the break room. I think he told everyone to stay out because no one has come in here in the last half hour.
“Someone wants to see you,” Garcia murmurs.
I’m surprised to see Ava and Marcus there, holding hands. “Hey.” I look between the two of them.
“Can we talk?” Ava asks. Her eyes are puffy and she looks as exhausted as I feel as she takes a tentative step inside.
I nod, mainly because Marcus was the one who recorded Ryan’s confession. When I set my phone down, I’d tried to call Garcia. Instead I accidentally called Marcus, the last person I’d texted.
Garcia stays as well, shutting the door behind all of them.
“I just want you to know that I didn’t have anything to do with…
Cara.” Ava’s voice chokes up as she sits across from me.
“I messed with a couple of the testing dates in the files early on because I was so worried…” She looks at her hands as tears stream down her cheeks.
“But I knew it was wrong. I ended up telling Milo about it. I never would have let the new product line roll out if the testing hadn’t been up to standards.
I was just trying to keep us on track.” She whispers the last part as she looks at me.
“I was worried if we got behind, it would ruin everything.”
“But Ryan had access to your laptop?”
She nods, looking miserable. “I didn’t realize it until recently. He was going into the system and changing things on my end, even Milo’s end. He had help, we’re pretty sure.” She looks at Garcia, who nods.
“We’ve pulled in two IT people and a woman on the security team that we think were assisting him. At least two of them are already talking.” Garcia’s voice is as hard as his expression.
Ava continues. “I just can’t believe Ryan would have risked so many lives.” She looks a little shell-shocked. Marcus is behind her, gently squeezing her shoulder. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t have anything to do with Cara. I loved her.”
“I know…and you’re right. If he’d managed to push the new self-driving air taxis through without the proper updates or working tech…” I scrub my hands over my face. I don’t even want to verbalize what could have happened.
He could have gotten thousands of people killed.
All for money. Because it’s not out of the realm of possibility that hackers could set up a targeted attack of all the self-driving air taxis that were operating in the air at once, especially since the company is using the same technology for all of them.
They could demand a ransom, and if they didn’t get it, they could make every single one of the planes crash.
The fallout of something like that has sweat slicking down my spine.
It’s beyond catastrophic. No wonder Cara was trying to stop it.
After Ava and Marcus leave, Garcia sits in front of me. “You want more coffee?”
“No. I think I’m ready to get out of here.” I’ve already given my statement, but he asked me to stick around for a little bit. I think to fill me in on things, something I’m grateful for. “Unless you know what the deal is with Hannah Brown?”
“I have a theory. Mr. Chatelain isn’t talking yet, but I think he will. Until then, I think Hannah Brown was blackmailing him. I think she saw something or more likely recorded something. Maybe him killing Cara or something along those lines.”
I nod slowly. “She’s blackmailed a dozen people in the neighborhood.” And I remember what her partner Kade said about her keeping something from him. Maybe she knew what Ryan had done and was blackmailing him. For something like murder, she would have asked for a lot.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever know for sure but I think he killed her.
The Seattle PD has a couple grainy videos of someone who looks very much like Ryan Chatelain tossing an unconscious or dead woman in the back of a nondescript car.
The plates are stolen and the video quality isn’t great—and I don’t know if it’ll hold any weight in court.
But I don’t know that this will go to court anyway. ”
“You think he’ll take a plea?”
“Maybe. If he admits to Hannah Brown’s murder, admits to where he dumped her body…he might get to pick where he goes to prison basically. Or he might never say anything and risk a trial. But we’ve got him on killing your sister and Cory Powell.”
There are too many unknowns right now, but one thing I know for sure—Cara’s murderer is locked up and not getting out anytime soon.
I stand on shaky feet. The EMTs wanted to take me to the hospital to get checked out, but I declined. I just want to go home and sleep for a year. “Thank you for…everything.”
“Right back at you,” Garcia murmurs. He looks like he wants to say more, but instead holds the door open for me. “Your brother-in-law is in the lobby.”
I’m glad of that because I have no idea how I’m going to get out of here. As I make my way down the hallway, I glance at my phone as it buzzes with an incoming text.
It’s Marcus. If for some reason that bastard gets out on bail, he won’t be a problem.
I blink at the message, a chill snaking down my spine. His intent is clear. But I also smile at the knowledge that if Ryan tries to walk away from this, it’s not happening. Marcus will kill him, of that I have no doubt.
And I won’t lose any sleep over it. I delete his message then tuck my phone away.